March 29, 2024

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Kingsmills Care Home gets ‘very good’ rating in latest Care Inspectorate report

Kingsmills Care Home, Inverness.
Kingsmills Care Home, Inverness.

AN Inverness care home received a very satisfactory inspection report despite the inspectors being unable to speak to residents due to an outbreak of Covid in late February this year.

However, relatives the Care Inspectorate team spoke to were highly complimentary about the care their loved ones received in 60-bedroom Kingsmills Care Home.

Key points from the inspectors included: “We saw staff provide kind and respectful care. The standard of care planning was very good. There was a good standard of cleanliness throughout the home. Staff experienced good leadership and there was effective oversight of care.”

The key messages also included “further improvements are outstanding about the management of linen” and the home was urged to “ensure environmental repairs are quickly attended to.” The inspectors also found that the service would benefit from reviewing how they assess, and respond to, changing staffing requirements at critical times.

In evaluating quality, a six-point scale was used where one is unsatisfactory and six is excellent.

Kingsmills’ support for people’s wellbeing was rated five or very good, and for care and support during the pandemic, it was four or good.

The report said: “Infection control practices support a safe environment for people experiencing care and staff.

“People were living in a safe, well maintained, and clean environment. We found that the home was visibly clean, fresh, and generally well presented.

“We observed good standards of environmental cleanliness being demonstrated by housekeeping staff. There were clear procedures in place for visiting while the home remained closed because of the outbreak of Covid-19. The systems in place reduced the risk of spread of infection when visitors were coming into the home.”

The report included: “We noted that despite the overall cleanliness in the home, we found mattresses which although not in use at the time we were in the home, had not been disposed of, and were in an unsatisfactory condition. This was immediately attended to but we have reminded the service to ensure vigilance to prevent reoccurrence.

“We observed laundry practice that was overall good. However, we identified that a small amount of used linen which had the potential to be infectious had not been bagged appropriately for transfer to the laundry. While this was immediately remedied we will make an area of improvement to ask the service to review laundry practice.”


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